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Adam Schiff on Roger Stone commutation: "Republicans won't stand up for the rule of law"

12 July 2020
 Dan Ackermann

House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) criticized Republicans for not speaking out against President Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's prison sentence, pointing out on ABC's "This Week" that Stone was convicted for lying to a GOP-led committee.

The big picture: Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) are the only Republican senators who have condemned the move, with Romney calling it "unprecedented, historic corruption" and Toomey noting that Stone was "duly convicted" by a jury.

  • Trump lashed out at both senators on Twitter late Saturday night, calling them RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and accusing former FBI officials of spying on his campaign.
  • Schiff claimed Trump has "abused the pardon power" to protect himself from "criminal liability," which he said is an impeachable offense. But he added: "If the Republicans won't even say a word, of course they're not going to vote to impeach and convict."

What he's saying: "Republicans won't stand up for the rule of law, won't stand up for the independence of the Justice Department. It shouldn't matter, but this was a Republican-led investigation that Roger Stone lied to," Schiff said.

  • "The committee was then chaired by a Republican, and here you have no more than a couple Republicans willing to say a single word about someone who came before Congress and lied to them, intimidated witnesses and obstructed them. Why? Because he did it to cover for a president of their party."
  • "This is the distinction between now and Watergate. The Republicans then would not have stood for this, and Nixon understood that. Donald Trump understands that he has these Republicans cowed."

Go deeper: Robert Mueller speaks out on Roger Stone commutation

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.